Dec 3, 2018

Democracy Now: Since Bush’s death, the media has honored the former president by focusing on his years of service and his call as president for a kinder, gentler America. But the headlines have largely glossed over and ignored other parts of Bush’s legacy. We look at the 1991 Gulf War, Bush’s pardoning of six Reagan officials involved in the Iran-Contra scandal and how a racist election ad helped him become president. We speak with Intercept columnist Mehdi Hasan. His latest piece is titled “The Ignored Legacy of George H.W. Bush: War Crimes, Racism, and Obstruction of Justice.”

"The idea that you only focus on the positive and you ignore the negative—especially when the negatives involve the loss of huge amounts of human life—is absurd, it's a dereliction of journalistic duty." -@mehdirhasanpic.twitter.com/Z0lWxuphaw

Journalist @mehdirhasan says the media coverage of Pres. George H.W. Bush's death late last week has been "hagiography masquerading as journalism," saying many newsrooms don't realize "this is about evaluating the record of a President of the United States." #DNlivepic.twitter.com/BiwfkYDYqd

George H.W. Bush's administration forcibly sterilized hundreds of HIV-positive Haitian people who were sent to Guantanamo Bay after seeking refuge in the U.S. in the '90s. The actions "created the legal architecture for the Guantanamo Prison base after 9/11," says @thrasherxypic.twitter.com/bZzobqrtg4

Pres. George H.W. Bush escalated the War on Drugs, deepening the racial disparities in the criminal justice system, says journalist @mehdirhasan: "He called for more prosecutors, more jails, more prison, more courts, and we know how that story ends." #DNlivepic.twitter.com/buJu2114tl

Democracy Now: Inter-American Commission on Human Rights: U.S. Owes Reparations to Panama over Bush’s Invasion - Last month, the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights called on Washington to pay reparations to Panama over George H.W. Bush’s illegal invasion there in 1989. We speak with international human rights attorney José Luis Morín, who has been working since 1990 to secure reparations for Panama. He is a professor at John Jay College of Criminal Justice and chairperson of the Latin American and Latina/o Studies Department.

Democracy Now:Greg Grandin: George H.W. Bush’s 1989 Invasion of Panama Set the Stage for U.S. Wars to Come - The death of George H.W. Bush has dominated the U.S. news for days, but little attention has been paid to the defining event of Bush’s first year in office: the invasion of Panama. On December 19, 1989, Bush Sr. sent tens of thousands of troops into Panama, ostensibly to execute an arrest warrant against its leader, Manuel Noriega, on charges of drug trafficking. General Noriega was once a close ally to Washington and on the CIA payroll. In a nationally televised address, Bush claimed the invasion was needed to defend democracy in Panama. During the attack, the U.S. unleashed a force of 24,000 troops equipped with highly sophisticated weaponry and aircraft against a country with an army smaller than the New York City Police Department. An estimated 3,000 Panamanians died in the attack. We speak with historian Greg Grandin, prize-winning author and professor of Latin American history at New York University, on the lasting impact of the Panama invasion.

Democracy Now:How George H.W. Bush’s Pardons for Iran-Contra Conspirators Set the Stage for Trump’s Impunity - As the media lauds George H.W. Bush’s legacy, we look at his role in the Iran-Contra scandal. Bush Sr. was vice president when the Reagan administration conspired to deceive and defy Congress with its illegal arms sale to Iran in exchange for securing the release of American hostages in Lebanon. The proceeds from the sale were used to illegally fund the Nicaraguan Contras. In 1992, when Bush Sr. was president, he pardoned several Iran-Contra defendants, including Caspar Weinberger, Robert McFarlane and Elliott Abrams. We speak with Greg Grandin, prize-winning author and professor of Latin American history at New York University.

Democracy Now:Ariel Dorfman: George H.W. Bush Is Alive in His Many Victims Across the Globe, Including Me - George H.W. Bush was the only president in U.S. history to serve as CIA director, a role that would come to define his career and politics. He once described the intelligence agency as “part of my heartbeat.” Bush Sr. was at the helm of the CIA from January 1976 to January 1977. During that time, he oversaw Operation Condor, a U.S.-backed campaign in the 1970s and '80s in which Latin American countries coordinated to eliminate political dissidents. The campaign involved military dictatorships in Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Paraguay, Peru and Uruguay. We speak with Ariel Dorfman, best-selling author, playwright, poet and activist, who teaches at Duke University. In 1973, he served as a cultural adviser to Chilean President Salvador Allende's chief of staff. He says George H.W. Bush was “presiding over the CIA when Pinochet, the dictator of Chile, had concentration camps open. They were torturing people. They were executing people. They were persecuting people. And they were killing people overseas.” We also speak with Greg Grandin, prize-winning author and professor of Latin American history at New York University, and José Luis Morín, professor at John Jay College of Criminal Justice.

Related Tweets:

President George H.W. Bush's invasion of Panama in 1989 was the biggest deployment of U.S. troops since the Vietnam War, notes historian @GregGrandin. The U.S. violated Panama's sovereignty with public support and in the name of "democracy," a turning point in U.S. invasions. pic.twitter.com/GAVteAD177

During the invasion, the U.S. unleashed 24,000 troops against a country with an army smaller than the NYPD. An estimated 3,000 Panamanians died, and poor neighborhoods burned. Civilians were targeted "indiscriminately" and in violation of international law, says José Luis Morín. pic.twitter.com/5fAxoPmIW3

"There's a through line through Bush's life that's being completely ignored in all of the obituaries and the remembrances of Bush. And that through line is the easy resort to violence in the Third World." - @GregGrandin, author and professor of Latin American history #Bush41pic.twitter.com/bDXzEhk0CI

“The problem with Bush and how he’s being treated now is the incapacity of most Americans to look in the mirror and recognize what they have done to the world," says Chilean author and poet Ariel Dorfman. "We should remember the terrible pain that he wrought." #Bush41pic.twitter.com/SCQYQ3SgNw

Info: As the media memorializes George H.W. Bush, we look at the lasting impact of his 1991 invasion of Iraq and the propaganda campaign that encouraged it. Although the Gulf War technically ended in February of 1991, the U.S. war on Iraq would continue for decades, first in the form of devastating sanctions and then in the 2003 invasion launched by George W. Bush. Thousands of U.S. troops and contractors remain in Iraq. A largely forgotten aspect of Bush Sr.'s war on Iraq is the vast domestic propaganda effort before the invasion began. We look at the way U.S. media facilitated the war on Iraq with journalist John “Rick” MacArthur, president and publisher of Harper's Magazine and the author of the book “Second Front: Censorship and Propaganda in the 1991 Gulf War.

Tweets;

Rick MacArthur recounts how former Pres. George H.W. Bush employed propaganda to justify invading Iraq in 1991, including a fabricated story about soldiers killing Kuwaiti babies: "There were babies killed because of neglect and because of the American bombardment." pic.twitter.com/CinuZRTWy9

The media was limited to inaccurate and censored government material from the 1991 Iraq invasion, unable to challenge the U.S. narrative, says Rick MacArthur. There were "no reporters on the field to verify anything… The American public gets the impression it's a 'clean' war." pic.twitter.com/YpAKXRoVpJ

Quotes

"Make peace with the universe. Take joy in it. It will turn to gold. Resurrection will be now. Every moment, a new beauty." - Rumi

"God is a metaphor for that which transcends all levels of intellectual thought. It's as simple as that." - Joseph Campbell

"Naturally, every age thinks that all ages before it were prejudiced, and today we think this more than ever and are just as wrong as all previous ages that thought so. How often have we not seen the truth condemned! It is sad but unfortunately true that man learns nothing from history." - Carl Jung

"Of all the animosities which have existed among mankind, those which are caused by difference of sentiments in religion appear to be the most inveterate and distressing, and ought most to be deprecated. I was in hopes that the enlightened and liberal policy, which has marked the present age, would at least have reconciled Christians of every denomination so far that we should never again see the religious disputes carried to such a pitch as to endanger the peace of society." - George Washington

“If a problem is fixable, if a situation is such that you can do something about it, then there is no need to worry. If it's not fixable, then there is no help in worrying. There is no benefit in worrying whatsoever.” - Dalai Lama

“Be empty of worrying. Think of who created thought! Why do you stay in prison. When the door is so wide open?” ― Rumi